• Prize money U$500 Culture Fund,
• Recording Contract plus Publishing contract
• Colcom gift vouchers worth U$50,
• Suite for the winner Bernton International,
• Techno-Prosounds 1 Guitar,
• Nestle Zimbabwe hamper worth U$28.50,
• Lake Harvest voucher,
• Cheeseman voucher worth $50.00,
• Radiant beauty spa,
• Music Ship,
• Hover,
• Artist grooming,
• Pro Brands Hamper worth $20,
• 1 Year Doves Funeral Policy, holiday trip to Victoria Falls 2, all expenses paid up
• Chang Thai Dinner for 2
Hello! I am Blessing Chidzurira. I was born on the 18th of August 1986 at Mnene Clinic in Mberengwa. My parents are late. I did Grade 1-4 at St. Anthony’s Primary School in Zaka and I went on to finish off my primary education at Nkankezi Primary School in Filabusi, Matebeleland South. I went to Mzingwane Boys High for my secondary education and then I did my Advanced Level at Silveira High School. I enrolled at NUST University in Bulawayo. I did Accounting up to attachment level and then I dropped out of university due to financial constraints. I am now doing music with a group called Royal Family Choir which is my life and my family. I am currently residing in Harare with my foster parents Mr. And Mrs. Kavhuru whom I met at Abiding Global Ministries. The church is led by Bishop Vukani Dhladhla who is my father and my mentor. Apart from music, I have played professional football. I can play hockey and I am also a very good actor. I love travelling and meeting new people. My wish is to be a motivational speaker.
Life is a journey and is better understood by those who have walked the journey, encountering and passing through every turn, uphill, downfall and curve. All I'm trying to say is, it was never meant to be as smooth as we often see it in movies or hear in some nice fairy tales but those that know their purpose, ardently and relentlessly pursue it are guaranteed of success, such is my StarBrite story.
Before StarBrite, I was a nobody, best described as a jobless, university drop out who had lost focus and going down straight into the doldrums of poverty. My failures were slowly but surely defining me, I allowed many pity parties and ended up comfortable in my misery and had concluded that I was gonna die normal and be reduced to what my mentor term the Dash Syndrome: where at one's tomb stone is: born at such such a time "dash" died at such such a time ( 1986-20whatever). Pain and misery was the order of the day and I exchanged hands and made many mistakes not that I wanted to but was trying all kinds of advice from different people due to desperation and despair...Life stopped to make sense at all and that's a state no one wants to be in.
In that state I packed my bags from Masvingo and I was on the road to the capital city Harare hoping for a turn of things and to be recognized as I was going to audition for the biggest Choir in Zimbabwe-Zimpraise. Apparently I was staying with a pastor who had liked my singing and thought of giving me a chance to recollect and refocus my life. I went through the audition at Holiday Inn and the unexpected happened: fortune did not favor me and I did not make the cut. I quickly ate the humble pie and accepted that I was not good and probably was never gonna become anything in life (having dropped out of NUST university studying Accounting). My spirit was crushed, my soul scattered and my mind left in total despair and it was easy for me to give up than try again.
My feelings could be justified considering I have no parents who both have passed, had no place of my own to stay was not in school and had no prospects of ever going back to school again. I was only left with the option to pray and believe in God for a miracle, after all he is a father to the father but I can tell you it’s very easy to pray when things are OK than when you are in that kind of situation. The easiest thing to do in that situation is to blame God and give up on life but I thank God because my pastor Bishop Vukani Dhladhla stood by me and made me believe even if there was no hope. So I kept praying and hoping for other opportunities.
One of the days, after doing our normal errands in town with my pastor, he released me to do my own staff in town: as if I had anything to do at all. I just roamed around the streets of Harare waiting for the day to end and go home. In first street, I hear noise of music and I see a tent and people flocking to the place and something in me says "why don't you draw near and see what's going on" and so I hesitantly dragged myself to the tent and woooow I was received with warm smiles and glowing faces as the StarBrite staff began to explain to me about the competition and its registration process.
$5 dollars was just too much for a guy who does not work and is being taken care of by a pastor, so I explained to the lady. I did not have the registration fee and was prepared to do what I always do in times like that- quit before I could even register. The lady then persuaded me to pre-register without cash and pay later which I hesitantly did knowing I was not going to beat the deadline for the registration fee. Deadline passed and still I couldn't find the $5 and mind you the deadline was about a week from my initial registration and I quickly forgot about it and to me it was yet another missed opportunity.
I went back into my misery for another week before StarBrite threw me a lifeline and send me a message to come for the first audition. That night I could not sleep trying to decide on the song I was gonna do, you can understand how important it was to me and I did not want to mess it up. The morning came and l was debating if I wanted to go or not since I still did not have the registration fee and I remember my cousins had said we meet in town and go see some prophet in town. I later decided to go to the auditions anyway and explained that I did manage to get the registration fee and God worked the first miracle, they allowed me to audition. I did "lean on me" and I remember asking for lyrics from a girl I met on the queue and went back home not so sure if I had made it.
A week later I got a message giving me directions to the next audition, did my best and I slowly started believing in myself. Third audition came and one judge said no and I almost collapsed but the other two gave me a lifeline and I was off to the first boot camp.
This was the beginning of big things to come. I humbled myself and emptied everything I knew and started to learn from the simplest of things. We had a lot of fun and a lot of life lessons. The greatest of the lessons I will never forget was "you can do more what you think, or believe" and that life gives you what you fight for and not what you deserve". If ever you forget all I've written, remember those two statements because they changed my life. We had a lot of challenging exercises and situations in boot camp but once I understood their purpose I welcomed them with an open heart.
When everybody saw a shouting and nagging Mr. Mpariwa, I saw a passionate mentor and father who wanted the best out of us, when everyone saw cruelty in all the exercises I saw an opening out of poverty, mediocrity and misery.I learnt to focus, think, strategize and most importantly I discovered myself and redefined myself according to who I wanted to be and not people thought I could be. StarBrite made me find the Blessing I was always looking for but could not find, I knew he was there somewhere but failures had almost made me believe the person was just imaginary and was never gonna manifest.
From the boot camp quarter final semifinal and the final for me the journey was easy because I had discovered what I wanted to do with my life. I had fallen in love with myself, my passion and my art and had met just the right people who could take me there. I stopped competing and started building a brand, I stopped fighting aimlessly and started strategizing, I was now walking the journey with more energy and exuberance because I knew I was on the right track.
Well eventually I won StarBrite having waived competition from over ten thousand contestants. The prices were life changing and something I never expected in my life time. A stand, 60000 bricks, 40 bags of cement, a recording contract, doves premium funeral policy, trip to Vic Falls, guitar, dinner, $500 cash, hampers and gift vouchers. I met big people and made connections from DJ Barney, Mr Pardon Mutsago, Mr. Tich Mataz, Alexio Kawara, Cynthia Mare DJ RK to mention but a few. These have inspired me to achieve greatness because they themselves have achieved greatness.
The greatest of the prizes for me was not the material things I got but it was just the love of God and the StarBrite staff and everyone involved who afforded me a second chance in life to at least put order and refocus my life. They gave me hope in my hopeless life, they gave me reason to live again and that is basically life itself. I am forever grateful to StarBrite and everyone who played a part; I cannot grow a big head or be puffed up by pride because I know on my own I would have not achieved all this. Remembering how things turned and what I achieved I shed tears and only wish many more people could read my story and find hope and inspiration to move forward and never give up in life.
We all face different challenges in life but the greatest mistake we could ever make is to give up. I learnt that those that discourage you don't hate you but sometimes are scared to watch you go through pain that shapes and moulds you, when they do discourage you don't give up ride on their negative wave and remain focused, I tell you the day you make it they will be the ones to say the famous statement " we always knew you would make it"
I hope to meet you at the pinnacle of your success and together we can share our story and inspire many young people out there.
Blessing Blaze Chidzurira (#thedreamistrue)
